UK Offence Report

Provisions supplementary to articles 23 to 25

article 26(1) of The Iran (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2012 (revoked)

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 A person (“P”) to whom this Order applies commits an offence if P discloses information given or a document produced by a person in accordance with a request made under article 23, 24 or 25 except— a to any person who would have been authorised to request the information or document under article 23, 24 or 25, or to any person holding or acting in any office under or in the service of— i the Crown in right of the Government of the United Kingdom, ii the Government of the Isle of Man, iii the States of Guernsey or Alderney or the Chief Pleas of Sark, iv the States of Jersey, or v the Government of any British overseas territory; b for the purpose of giving assistance pursuant to any resolution of the Security Council of the United Nations relating to Iran, and with the authority of the Governor, to— i any organ of the United Nations, or ii any person in the service of the United Nations, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission or the government of any country; c with a view to instituting, or otherwise for the purposes of, any proceedings— i in the Territory, for an offence under this Order or, with respect to any of the matters regulated by this Order, for an offence relating to customs; or ii in the United Kingdom, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or any British overseas territory, for an offence under a similar provision in any such jurisdiction; d to the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom, or to the relevant authority with responsibility in any other country or territory for the regulation and supervision of financial services business; e with the consent of a person, who in the person’s own right, is entitled to the information, or to possession of the document, to any third party.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
dealing with funds or making them available in breach of sanctions
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach article 26(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Moving, converting or paying away funds that belong to a designated person under the Iran (Restrictive Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2012, without a licence from the Treasury.
  2. Making funds or economic resources available to a designated person - which includes paying a third party who will pass on the benefit.
  3. Dealing with an asset in ignorance of the designation is still caught where the provision imposes no knowledge requirement; check the fault element stated below before assuming otherwise.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Maximum prison (summary)
6 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
10 July 2012
In force from
12 July 2012
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order gives effect in specified Overseas Territories to the measures adopted by the European Union in Council Decision 2010/413/CFSP, as amended by Council Decision 2012/35/CFSP, and implemented by Council Regulation (EU) No. 267/2012 (the Regulation), which incorporated the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1929 (2010), and applied additional restrictive measures in relation to Iran’s nuclear proliferation and missile technology programmes. The main provisions of the Council Decision and Regulation are: a prohibition on the supply of arms to, or purchase of arms from, Iran; a prohibition on the sale or supply of goods and technology which could contribute to Iran’s proliferation activities; a prohibition on providing assistance or financing in relation to prohibited goods; a prohibition on the importation or transportation of oil from Iran; a prohibition on the importation or transportation of petrochemical products from Iran; a prohibition on financing any Iranian person or entity engaged in certain nuclear-related activities; a prohibition on supplying equipment to any Iranian person or for use in Iran for the exploration and production of oil or gas, or for use in the petrochemical industry in Iran; a prohibition on the sale or purchase of gold, precious metals or diamonds to or from Iran; a prohibition on the supply of newly printed banknotes and coins to Iran; restrictions on financial transactions to or from Iranian persons or entities; a prohibition on the purchase of Iranian bonds. This Order revokes the Iran (United Nations Measures) (Overseas Territories) Order 2007 and the Iran (United Nations Measures) (Overseas Territories) (Amendment) Order 2007.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source